Tripod.



No. 654,05l. Patented July l7, I900. n. P. BROWN & A. SCHAUSTEN. TRIPOD.

(Application filed Dec. 26, 1899,)

(No Model.)

Nl'lE TATES ATENT @wrcn.

OF COLUMBIA.

TRIPOD.

srncrrroarron forming part of Letters Patent at. 654,051, dated July 17, 1900.

,A nctaon filed December 26, 1899- Serial no. 741.646., (No model.)

To all whom it 11mg concern: I

Be itknown that we, ROBERT P. BROWN and AUGUST SCHAUSTEN, citizens of the United States, residing at Washington, in the District of Columbia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Tripods; and-we do herebydec lare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same.

Our invention relates, primarily, to the art of photography, but has more particular reference to certain novel improvements in the construction of tripods for the support of cameras. Its use also contemplates the similar support ofiheodolites, compasses, surveying'instruments, telescopes, and astronomical implements in general or other instruments of precision requiring either nicety or range 'of adjustment to or from a horizontal plane.

The chief object of the present invention may accordingly be said to reside in means for securely mounting a photographic camera upon its supporting-tripod and rendering it independently adjustable thereon to any required angle of inclination.

As a further object our invention contemplates and provides for the peculiar form of construction, arrangement, and combination of parts hereinafter set forth for' obtaining the aforesaid results with accuracy, rapidity, and precision, a construction at once simple, inexpensive, and durable, easy of manipula= tion and remarkably efficient in securing and maintaining what may be termed a universal adjustment of the camera upon its tripod as a fixed point of support. i

As well known by all persons skilled in the art of photography, preservation of the recti linear lines of a picture is a matter of the greatest importance. This must always be accomplished at the outstart by adjustment of the camera with relation to the subject to be photographed. Heretofore such adjustment has usually been efiected by manipulation of the-tripod or one leg thereof, the process being both laborious and unreliable, owing, among other reasons, to irregularities of the earth as asupport for the tripod or to space-limitations if the picture is an interior one. To overcome these and kindred difiiculties, our present improved construction of universally-adjustable tripod-head has been devised and ,produced in'manner andform'as 3 will be hereinafter described, and particularly pointed out in the claims following.

In the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification, and whereon like letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several views, Figure 1 is a side elevation of our invention in operative position, showing its relative position between the head of a tripod and base of a camera. Fig. 2 is a vertical central section of the invention attached to the head of a; tripod. Fig. 3 is a view corresponding with Fig. 2-, with the exception that a sheet or pressed- Inetal form is here shown; and Fig. 4 is a horizontal section of the invention, taken on the line to m, Fig. 3.

Reference. being had to the drawings and letters thereon, A indicates a photographic camera, B B B the legs or standards of asup porting-tripod therefor, and C a cap or top plate to which legs B are pivotally connected in the usual manner.

Upon the surface of top plate 0 is mounted a universally-adjustable tripod-head' which embodies the important and controlling fea tures of the present invention, constituting a ball-and-socket connection between the bed of the camera and the top plate aforesaid.

D indicates the fixed or socket member of the invention, which is substantially cylindrical in form and open at both ends. This member is surrounded by a base-flange E,

whereby it is secured to top plate 0 of the tripod, and the upper edge of its walls converge, as at a, for purposes that will later appear. V I Within the confines of socket D is held a ball F, surmounted by a bracket 19 and a central screw-stud G for detachable connection with the bed of a camera. By preference ball F is a true sphere and is made of cast metal,

either solid or hollow; but obviously the material, as also the precise configuration of this member, may be varied to meet special requirements so long as the features essential to its cooperation with socket D are preserved. Beneath ball F and within the cylindrical casing or socket D is a vertically-adjustable ICO friction-shoe H, which may beformed of any suitable. mate-rial su(ih as cork, leather, pa-

pier-mach, soft wood, or other more or less yielding materialand having a concave up,- per surface c. Shoe II is supported directly upon a vertically-movable disk or wear-plate I, and this in turn rests upon the end of a the invention, and it will be observed that between the legs B B B of the tripod. ,Thus the screw may be operated bya sense of touch alone, its mechanical action and that ofthe correlative parts being at all times such as to permit an immediate adjustment of the cam- ,era and a positive locking thereof in its .ad-

3' usted position.

Special advantages are claimed for the direct vertical action of the movable parts of the binding force exerted by screw J upon ball F is always applied in direct vertical lines and the strains incident thereto advantageously distributed. I This being a description of the invention,

its use and action are so apparent as to requireno-furtherstatementofoperationr Its advantages are equally apparent. to all per sons skilled in photography and artsrelated thereto, and while the-preferred form of con 7 struction and materials have been herein set forth it should be noted that we by no means limit ourselves to the precise construction and arrangement ofv parts shown and described, since various modified means may be employed for accomplishing the same results without departing from the spirit of our in- Vention.

Having thus described ourimprovements, what we claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A universally-adjustable tripod-head comprising a ball member bearing a screwstud for mounting a camera, a socket for con-' taining the ball member, a removable closure for the lower end of the socket member, and a binding-screw in threaded relation with said closure operating upon the ball member for maintaining a predetermined adjustment thereof, substantially as described.

2. A universally-adjustable tripod-head 'comprisinga ball member bearinga screwstud for mountin'g a camera, a cylindrical socket converging at one end and flanged at its opposite for'containin-g the ball member, a screw-closure for the lowerendof the socket member, a binding-screw in threaded relation with said closure, and a friction-shoe interposed between said screw and ball for maintaining a predetermined adjustment of the latter, substantially as described. In testimony whereof we subscribe our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

ROBERT P. BROWN.

AUGUST SOHAUSTEN. Witnesses:

. WM. E. 'DYRE,

HUGH M. STERLING. 

